She Crept Up On Me: Finnick and Annie
by BRIGHTSIDEash
Summary: The romance of Finnick Odair and Annie Cresta.


_I know I've been gone away for a long time, and I'm very, very sorry! _

_Here's a Finnick and Annie one shot that I've been working on the past few days for you guys. I hope you enjoy it, and I will hopefully write something more very soon. _

"When this is over, I'll teach you how to fish." I tell her softly, cradling a cup of water in my hands.

She only lowers her gaze, bites gently on her bottom lip, looking sad for a moment. I know the thoughts going through her head, I can see it in her sea green eyes.

She's sitting on the sofa across from me, legs curled up underneath her, holding a mug of something hot, her black hair falling across her lovely face. She glances up at me. One quick look, and back down again.

"Finnick-" She starts to say ever so gently, but I'm shaking my head.

"No. You know what you have to do. You just have to outsmart them, you may have to kill someone. You have to do it." I stress the point. I've found quite the friend in her during my mentoring, and I don't wish to watch her die.

I'd never known her before her name was called at the Reaping; only seen her a few times in passing in our District. She's a rather quiet girl with a strange determination about her and a spark in her eye that makes you think she was troublesome for her parents. At the same time, she's most likely the kindest person I've ever known. I like to think that she would do what is absolutely necessary in the arena, but I just can't be sure.

"I think I should try to get some sleep." She finally stays, and we're both standing. She'd already tried sleeping hours ago, and after some time had given up only to find me sitting in the sitting area staring at the darkness. I knew what she wasn't saying, though.

In a few hours she would be sent off the the arena, and then fighting for her life. She needs all the sleep she can get.

For a moment we stand and stare at one another, not knowing what to say or do. Do we hug now? We've done so many times before, but this feels different somehow.

She steps toward me, reaches her hand out, hesitates. Then her hand is on my cheek and I'm lifting my fingers to trace across the backs of her fingers briefly. She smiles, and I'm sure the room brightens a little.

"Goodnight, Finnick."

We step back awkwardly and she turns away. I'm left to watch her walk down the hall towards her bedroom.

"Goodnight, Annie." I call after her.

"""

I'm perched on the edge of my seat, all of my muscles tensed, teeth grinding. Annie has been in the arena for a few days now, and she's spent most of it hiding. I've been doing all I can to use my charm and get her all of the supplies she needs. The male died on the fourth day, and Annie had been there. She had watched a sword slice through his neck, his head roll away from the rest of his body. Ever since, she hasn't been the same Annie that I remember.

There's something ... off. I can't help but feel that I'm watching her slowly decline into insanity.

Right now it's obvious the games are getting too boring. Nothing has happened in the past two days so I know that something is going to happen. The screen shows a glimpse of Annie, rubbing at some bark between her fingers. I don't understand what she's doing with it; I don't think even she knows.

The cameras start shaking. The screen flashes between the different angles, the Tributes' alarmed expressions. A wide pan of the dam that most of them have been steering clear of. Too big a mark, too open. It's breaking, the water is flooding. Screens are washed over, most of them underwater.

I start to rise, my muscles uncoiling. Realise there's nothing I can do, sit back down. A canon fires, but who is it? Someone gets washed up by the water, and two minutes later another canon.

Drowning. They're all drowning. I think back to my Victory tour of the other Districts, try to remember any signs of water. Could anyone swim?

Annie, I think with almost delight. She's District Four; surely she can swim? I try to recall any mention of swimming in our previous conversations, but it's a topic that hadn't come up.

Another canon fire causes me to concentrate on the television screen again. There's no telling who it had been, but where's Annie? There's still plenty of cameras at a high vantage point to see the arena filling up with water. Just how much are they pumping in there? Zooms in on a swimming figure, but switches cameras too quickly. Had that been her? It was possible.

An underwater camera is showing us the female Tribute from District 3, they keep it on her struggling form until all she does is float and the canon goes off again.

Two more canons. I don't know how long it takes, I don't know who has died.

Trumpets. The camera zooms in on a figure in the water. Dark hair. Small. Female? Annie's face is blown up on the screen. She looks bewildered. I wonder if she even knows that she's won. They're announcing her name.

She's coming home.

"""

I hear the scream when I'm a few paces from her door, and I'm dropping the plates in my hand. Running into the house, searching for any kind of weapon. No time. Rush in to her room, fists at the ready. Pause. Nobody there. Annie is crouched in a corner, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, hands over her ears.

I say her name softly but still she doesn't move so I slowly approach her, crouch down right in front of her. Hesitantly, my hands go over hers and I say her name again. The scream dies down into a whimper, but her eyes are squeezed shut.

"It's me, Annie. It's Finnick." I'm still talking quietly, not wanting to startle her. "Do you remember who I am?" There had been multiple times she had looked at someone blankly, someone who had claimed to be a good friend from before the Games. So far, she'd never forgotten me.

The whimpering stops, and there's a pause of silence.

"Finnick." My name is just a whisper on her lips. She inhales deeply, looks up at me. "I know you, Finnick Odair." Her lips flicker into a smile and I laugh in relief.

I help her to her feet, but sigh. "I'm afraid our dinner is now on the floor outside." She suddenly starts laughing, as if it is the funniest thing she has ever heard, and I cannot help but laugh along with her.

"""

I fire a blaze of bullets in front of me, not even aware if I'm hitting anything. The snarls coming from the creatures are scary enough, but when I look up to see them looking straight at me, teeth bared, it sends a chill down to my bones. I want to glance behind me to see what the others are doing, but I can't break eye contact.

I fire again, and again. Slowly, I back up in the hopes we've got an escape route. There's someone next to me, but I don't even register who it is. Something warm and sticky splashes my face. Blood. They're getting closer.

"""

Annie's eyes are vacant, staring out across the water. I'm holding a fishing pole in my hands, waiting patiently for either a fish to get caught or Annie to start speaking. Whichever comes first. There's a second pole laying next to her, but she hasn't picked it up.

She had been lucid up until we arrived at the sand. She got onto the boat willingly and there's been no screaming episodes. Just silence. It's something I've been dealing with in the past few months since her return from the Arena. She came out so broken, and I feel somehow responsible for her well-being. There's nobody else to make sure she gets through the days.

Something snags on my line and I almost drop the pole, but tighten my grip and gently pull on it.

"I think I've caught something, Annie!" I say excitedly, fighting the battle out. Releasing the creature a little, pulling it back in. Back and forth, back and forth until I'm pulling the fish out of the water. It's a huge disappointment when I see that the fish I had fought with for five minutes is no bigger than my own hand.

"I don't think we can eat that." The sudden voice beside me makes me jump and I almost drop the struggling fish. I glance sideways at her quickly and then nod with a long sigh.

"I think you're right," I tell her as I free the fish, dropping it back into the water. "Are you ready for me to teach you how to fish now?" I ask her.

"I already know," she replies with a small giggle.

"You do? Since when?" She just rolls her eyes at my questions.

"My dad taught me when I was a child. I just didn't want to make you feel bad." She teases, and I grin at her.

We spend the rest of the afternoon fishing together, and even manage to catch enough for our dinner.

"""

I'm sat down at a table, with Mags and Annie across from me. The evening has been pleasant and the food excellent. It's been nearly two years of watching over Annie, spending almost all of my time with her whilst working the odd job in the town.

There have been times when I could forget just how broken and fragile Annie is, but the moments always slam into us to remind me. Finding her crying or having her laugh at odd moments in conversation, running in when she begins screaming or when she suddenly stops talking and covers her to block out sound that nobody else hears, and other times when she falls into a worrying silence.

Five months ago I had started staying late when she complained of nightmares, and those late nights stretched into all night. I still stay at my own home, but I spend a lot of nights here with Annie. Two months ago, we had shared our first kiss. In forty days, I turn twenty one.

Fifteen months ago, I would have never thought of Annie as more than a broken friend.

"I think it's our turn to clean up," I say brightly, standing up to collect the dishes. Mags grins at me and nods her head, following me to the kitchen with an armful of dirty dishes.

Five minutes into the clean-up, Annie's screams begin. I drop the plate back into the tub of water and rush into the dining room, where Annie is on the floor, leaning against the wall. I kneel down in front of her, and place my hands at each side of her head, leaning in close to whisper to her.

"It's okay. Shh, it's okay. I'm here, Annie. There's nothing going to hurt you here." It takes a few moments, but finally she calms down and I lean against the wall, cradling her in my arms. Her head rests against my chest as she sobs into my shirt.

When I glance up, Mags is watching us silently. I recognise the sympathetic gaze my old mentor gives me, and I know exactly what she's thinking because so many before her have thought the same thing.

Why couldn't you fall in love with someone normal, Finnick?

"""

I find myself in the Capitol, mentoring yet another boy and girl from District Four who probably won't make it. I try to stay positive with them always, but I know it's unlikely I'll see them again.

Once out of District Four, I have to put on the flirty persona. The crowd expects me to flirt with them, the citizens want to think that I want them. None of them know that I'm in love with Annie Cresta.

The President requests an audience with me, and I walk to his house with heavy steps. I don't want to be there, because I'm sure I know what he's going to demand of me. I don't want to do it. Not now. I never wanted to do any of it in the first place, but now I have even more incentive not to do anything expected of me.

"You haven't been making any appointments," Snow says as soon I step into his office. There's a fluttering in my stomach. I can't stand the smell in his office or around the man. I can't stand the way he talks. I can't stand the way he glances up at me, like some kind of snake waiting to strike.

"No, I haven't." I say defiantly, trying to stand a little taller.

"Why is that?" he sounds almost amused, waiting for my response. For a moment, I think that he knows, but that's impossible. Mags is the only one that knows. He lives here in the Capitol away from us, there's no way he could possibly know about Annie. Is there?

"I don't wish to carry out the deeds you demand of me."

"What about all of your lovers out there? They beg for your attention." Lovers. A laughable word.

"I'm a prized possession to them. That's not who I wish to be." The pen in his hand stops, and he looks up from whatever it is that he's been writing. The hard look he gives me causes icy fingers of fear to crawl down my neck. I want the ground to swallow me up. A wave to crash over the world. Anything.

"Quite a sudden change of heart you've had. You never had much trouble with it all before; played it up rather well, I'd say." He leans back in his chair and looks at me fully. "If you don't do as I ask, I will kill her."

We've had this conversation before. Mags always disapproved of my lifestyle, but of course I've never told her that her life had been at stake.

"I'm not referring to the old woman." He says after a moment of silence. My entire body goes cold, and I stagger back, away from him. He knows. Of course he knows. "That young girl, from the 65th Games. The one who went mad. Annie Cresta, is it?" He poses it as a question, but he knows it is her name. Still I don't say anything.

Snow pulls a file from one of his drawers, and from that he pulls a photo. The image drops onto the desk in front of me, but I can only stare.

The photo is of Annie and I, walking side by side in the market. We aren't holding hands, or kissing, or even looking at one another. We're both smiling, and I remember the day as two months ago.

"We're - we're just friends," I manage to choke out, but President Snow is shaking his head.

"I do hate it when people lie to me, Finnick. You love this girl, and if you do not do as I say then I will have her killed."

A few hours later I am walking into a Capitol apartment; a woman with shocking blue hair and strange tattoos grins at me as she pours two glasses of wine.

"I have some wonderful secrets for you tonight," she tells me, holding a glass out towards me. Instead of taking it, I tug my shirt over my head and force the smirk onto my lips.

"Don't you always, my love?"

"""

I'm filled with self loathing on the train ride back to District Four. Both Tributes had died, and I had betrayed Annie. How could I possibly look her in the eyes again?

I step off the train and she's there in front of me, standing beside Mags. Seeing her smiling face, safe and unharmed reminds me why I did the deeds that I did. I still feel disgusted, but when she steps forward into my arms, I almost forget about it all. Almost.

We step back from one another, not daring to kiss in front of everyone. I glance at Mags and the disapproving in her eyes makes me realise that she knows what I've been doing. Another deep sense of shame.

That night, I pull Mags to the side and confide in her. I tell her all about President Snow and his threats to Annie. I tell about his previous threats to harm Mags, and how I could never let that happen. She hugs me tightly, and tells me that it's okay.

Mags is my family, has been ever since fourteen year old me came back from the Games.

When I see her walking straight into the poisonous fog with open arms, it feels as if a part of my very being is torn away from me.

"""

Teeth clamp down on the flesh of my leg, and the muttation almost pulls me down to the ground. It tears away a chunk of my skin, and I point my gun straight at its face.

I shoot once, it doesn't let go. Twice, it bites down harder. Three times, it falls down dead. I stumble backwards, my leg searing in pain. More of them are stalking towards me, looking for the right opportunity to strike. Another one lunges, I shoot it in mid air, but it's soon followed by another.

"""

My fingers move deftly, precisely, systematically. Tying and untying. Over and over. She should be here soon. Another knot. They'd already shown my interview on live television. Two more knots. The whole of Panem knows. Another knot, undo. Another knot, undo. She already knows, of course. She's not blind, or deaf. Always rumours, always something on the Capitol television.

Another knot. Stop thinking of Annie. She'll be here soon. There's been no word. Surely that means everything has been going according to plan? Another knot.

It doesn't work. Annie consumes all of my thoughts. Horrible images of her not making it out. They couldn't find her. She's already dead. I drop my rope and pull in on myself, rocking back and forth, hold my head in my hands as if that could push out the thoughts.

"Did you love Annie right away, Finnick?"

"No." I reply. Annie's face comes to mind. Her beautiful, smiling face. Her screams as she huddles in a corner. Bringing her back, holding her to me, loving her into the dead of the night. "She crept up on me." I murmur, to both myself and Katniss.

Miss Katniss Everdeen; the girl on fire. The girl who ignited the rebellion with her spark. She's waiting also, for her Mellark boy. I can't tell if she really knows that he is hers, and she is his. I had my doubts about their love. I had thought it all a scam up until the moment he died. The grief in her face was no act. She loves the boy. No matter how much she shies away from it and pretend that she doesn't, the feelings are there.

We lapse into silence again.

I spend the rest of the night trying not to think of Annie or the rescue mission, and thinking of nothing else. Finally, Haymitch opens the door.

"They're back. We're wanted in the hospital." That's it, no information, no telling us who is back or, if they're hurt. I think Katniss must be about to ask a question, because he speaks again. "That's all I know."

I want to move, but suddenly I can't. I'm stuck on the floor. What if she's not there? What if she's not even alive? The thought of living without Annie makes my hands start to shake, the quivers travelling to my shoulders. She can't be dead. She has to be here.

A hand tugs on mine, and I'm pulled to my feet, wandering after the other two mindlessly. The hospital is a flurry of activity. A gurney rushes by with a wounded woman on it. I stare after it. Johanna. I want to follow my friend and make sure she's okay, but still I'm stuck to my position.

"Finnick!" I swivel on my feet, and she's all that I see. I push past a nurse and run across the hall, and her green eyes are filled with tears. "Finnick!" She repeats. There's a smile on her lips, and then we're colliding. I almost slip to the floor, but catch my balance at the last second, and we're against a wall instead. She folds into my arms and it's just as I remember. Her skin is bare and soft under mine, but there are chills running across her skin.

I need to her get her some clothes but for now, for now we stay as we are. Clutching one another, holding on tightly.

We pull away only a few inches, and I hold her face in my hands, plant my lips upon hers gently.

"You're safe," I say, and I pull her to me once again. Kiss the top of her head. "You're safe," I murmur into her hair.

"""

I'm laid in bed, my body curled around the form of Annie. These are usually the times when she is more lucid; when we're laying in bed together. My thumb is stroking the skin of her shoulder absent mindedly. I lean towards her, kiss just behind her ear and hold myself for a moment, surrounding myself in the smell of her.

"Marry me," I whisper.

She turns over in the bed to face me, and in the darkness I can only just make out the smile on her lips. Her hand finds mine, entwining our fingers.

"I thought you'd never ask, Finnick Odair." I laugh in both relief and joy, but it's cut off by her kiss.

"""

We don't plan any of the Wedding. All we have to do is show up. There are cameras everywhere, ready to be edited and shown to the rest of Panem. We want to show President Snow and our rebels that we can still be happy.

I just want to marry the love of my life.

The evening goes smoothly and it is a wonderful night that I know I will remember to the end of my days. Annie looks more than beautiful. Multiple times throughout the night I find myself wondering how I came to be so lucky. I don't let go of her hand at any point in the night. I don't ever want to let it go; don't ever want to let her go.

We return to our room after the night is over, and for a moment we just stand in the centre of the room and watch one another.

"How are you feeling, Mrs Odair?" I ask her quietly, and a bright smile crawls onto her lips.

She steps towards me, and I move closer to her. We stand a few inches apart, and I lose my mind in the sea green eyes gazing up at me. She reaches up to place her hand against my cheek, and I'm taken back to the night before she went into the arena. I was so unsure back then. A wonderful, bright young woman who made me feel strange things when we stayed up late talking, finding out about one another. She came out so broken and unlike the Annie I knew. Yet, here we are.

My fingers find the back of her hand, and I stroke the skin softly, smile down at her.

"I love you, Finnick Odair."

"""

Another shot, another mutt goes down. A sharp pain on my arm, teeth clamping down and pulling at my skin. I scream and drop the gun in my hand, only for more of them to leap at me. I scramble in the direction that my gun had fallen, look around with my hand, but it's nowhere that I can find it.

More teeth, a lot more pain, and a light in my face. I can't see who is behind it, but I see the muttation digging its claw into the wound of my leg, pinning my limb to the ground. I'm unable to kick it away. There's another at my shoulder, but my gaze is drawn to the mutt tearing at my arm. So much pain that I can't differentiate between separate wounds.

I struggle against the teeth and claws, but they continue to consume me.

I close my eyes and draw Annie's face to my mind.


End file.
